Progress in Modeling Very Low Mass Stars, Brown Dwarfs, and Planetary Mass Objects

TL;DR

This paper reviews recent progress in modeling very low mass stars, brown dwarfs, and planetary mass objects, highlighting advances in molecular opacities, cloud models, and new simulations, while also discussing remaining challenges.

Contribution

It introduces updated models with improved molecular opacities and cloud treatments, and presents preliminary radiation hydrodynamical simulations of M dwarfs.

Findings

Enhanced models better reproduce observed properties of low-mass objects.

Remaining issues in the M-L transition affect exoplanet characterization.

Preliminary simulations provide new insights into M dwarf atmospheres.

Abstract

We review recent advancements in modeling the stellar to substellar transition. The revised molecular opacities, solar oxygen abundances and cloud models allow to reproduce the photometric and spectroscopic properties of this transition to a degree never achieved before, but problems remain in the important M-L transition characteristic of the effective temperature range of characterizable exoplanets. We discuss of the validity of these classical models. We also present new preliminary global Radiation HydroDynamical M dwarfs simulations.